Bilingual Parenting Glossary

Short, plain-English answers to the terms you meet when raising a child with more than one language.

• Code-switching

  Code-switching is when a bilingual person moves between two languages in the same conversation or sentence. In children, it is a normal and often skilful part of growing up with more than one language.

• Comprehensible input

  Comprehensible input is language a learner can mostly understand, with a little new material mixed in. It is widely considered one of the key ingredients for picking up a language naturally.

• Heritage language

  A heritage language is a language connected to a child's family or cultural background that is spoken at home or by relatives, but is not the main language of the country where the child lives.

• Language exposure (input hours)

  Language exposure, sometimes measured in input hours, is the amount of time a child hears and uses a language. More regular, meaningful exposure generally helps a language grow stronger.

• Minority Language at Home (MLAH)

  Minority Language at Home (MLAH) is a strategy where the whole family speaks the minority language at home, while the child picks up the community language at school and outside.

• One Parent, One Language (OPOL)

  One Parent, One Language (OPOL) is a family language strategy where each parent consistently speaks a different language to the child, so the child grows up hearing both languages every day.

• Parallel stories (same story in two languages)

  Parallel stories are the same story told in two or more languages. A child hears or reads a familiar story in one language, then in another, using what they already understand to follow the new language.

• Passive bilingualism (receptive bilingualism)

  Passive bilingualism, also called receptive bilingualism, is when a child understands a second language well but rarely speaks it, usually replying in their stronger language instead.

• Sequential bilingualism

  Sequential bilingualism is when a child learns a second language after their first language is already established, often when starting nursery or school, or after moving to a new country.

• Silent period

  The silent period is a stage when a child learning a new language listens and understands more than they speak. They may say little or nothing in the new language for a while, which is a normal part of learning.

• Simultaneous bilingualism

  Simultaneous bilingualism is when a child learns two languages at the same time from birth or very early childhood, usually before about age three, so both develop as first languages.

• Translanguaging

  Translanguaging is the idea that bilingual people use all their languages together as one flexible set of skills, drawing on whichever words and structures help them think, learn and communicate best.